Incarnated
by Ryo-Wolf
Summary: RanmaInuyasha Cross. Ranma finds himself having wierd flashbacks involving a certain priestess and being pinned to a tree. This can only spell trouble, especially when he finds himself in feudal Japan.
1. Chapter 0

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and probably the same other people. Etc, etc. you know how this goes.  
  
Speech " "  
  
Thoughts ' '  
  
Sounds   
  
Signs [ ]  
  
English =" "=  
  
Chinese (" ")  
  
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The day was a day like any other. It began with the sun rising over the small district of Nerima located in the aptly named Land of the Rising Sun. Birds sang their songs among the branches of the trees as they always did, while the people of the town were just rising from their beds to go about their daily rituals and routines that were standard in society. They showered, groomed themselves, dressed nicely, ate a hearty breakfast, and quickly left for work or school. There was one individual, however, that was a bit of an odd ball when it came to this commonplace activity of the morning. One particular man whose morning routine was a far cry from the norm.  
  
"HAHAHA!! What a haul! What a haul!" Happosai cackled, waving a particularly scandalous peace of feminine undergarments over his head wildly before snuggling against it and shoving it into the large sack on his back. A scream of horror and anger rang out from the home Happosai was standing on top of as a variety of objects from soap bars to barbells were hurled at him in an attempt to enact vengeance against the diminutive panty thief. Happosai merely cackled again and was off, running across shingles, fences, walls and telephone poles as he journeyed from window to window, snatching all the laundry of the feminine variety that he could get his shriveled little hands on.  
  
"Ah, this is the perfect morning! I've made more finds today than I have all week, nothing could ruin my good mood now." Happosai said with a smile on his face, foolishly tempting the angry fates that kept a constant vigil on the small district of Tokyo as at that very moment, a certain 16-year- old martial artist with a pigtail happened across the old man.  
  
"Hey you old goat, stealin' panties so early in the morning. Don't cha have a shred of decency in that old mummified body of yours?" Ranma Saotome said with annoyance, stopping his fast paced journey toward the local high school by landing on the small head of the old man he was talking to, smashing it into the shingles and severely damaging the roof. Happosai stood without much trouble, dusting off his small Gi and taking out his pipe. He lit it and took a few kick puffs before looking up at the teen that was still perched on his skull.  
  
"Ah Ranma, what brings you here?" Happosai said, completely ignoring the fact that the boy that was at least 4 times his height and weight was using his head as a stool while he gazed upward, smoking is pipe. Ranma was frankly at a loss of words, usually the initial insult followed by standing on him would have egged on a fight, but instead he was smoking his pipe and asking a question Ranma had thought he already answered.  
  
"Um...just...heading to school..." Ranma said slowly, shifting his weight nervously as Happosai's eye twitched briefly, unhappy about the sudden motion on his bald head.  
  
"Well you best be off, don't want to be late. I need to get back to work now, so goodbye." Happosai said, putting his pipe away and picking his sack back up as he jumped off again.  
  
'What's up with him? Why is he acting so nice?' Ranma thought to himself, still perched upon Happosai despite the sudden movement of his chair. The fact that the old goat had blown off his attempt at a fight without even getting mildly steamed really annoyed Ranma, as he was suddenly determined to get Happosai mad at him. With this sudden thought in mind, Ranma cocked back his fist, and brought it down on the old man's face with the force of a 10-ton wreaking ball. The results were quite similar to what one might expect, as Happosai was suddenly hurled through a concrete slab at least twice his own thickness. Ranma landed with ease and picked up Happosai's sack before pulling some lighter fluid and a match box from seemingly nowhere as he went about dousing the large supply of female underwear.  
  
"RANMA...how dare you strike your master!" Happosai shouted, jumping through the him-shaped hole in the wall to see Ranma marinating his precious silky darlings in a highly flammable fluid.  
  
"R...Ranma! What are you doing?" Happosai asked, fear in his voice as he saw the boy strike a match.  
  
"No! Don't! I beg of you!" Happosai pleaded, getting on his knees as Ranma held the match over the pile of soaked clothing.  
  
"Don't what? What don't you want me to do?" He asked, faking innocence as he dropped the match, causing the sack and its contents to violently burst into flames.  
  
"Oops! I'm so sorry! Were those yours? Here, you can have mine." Ranma said, miraculously removing his boxers without first taking off his pants as he shoved the sweaty shorts down Happosai's throat before sealing his mouth with an entire roll of duct tape and drop kicking him back through the concrete wall he had previously penetrated.  
  
'Heh, if that doesn't get him going, nothing will.' Ranma thought as a giant fiery aura of death disintegrated the wall, allowing a very angry Happosai to stalk towards the pig-tailed boy.  
  
"RANMA!!!! YOU WILL PAY DEARLY FOR THIS!!!!" Happosai bellowed, growing to twelve times his previous size and roaring at Ranma. Ranma, for his part, was hardly amused or interested, having seen the trick preformed various times before.  
  
'This should be easy enough to defuse, and I might as well add injury to insult.' Ranma thought, pulling a small stone from his pocket and heating it with his Ki while Happosai came closer.  
  
"Look! It's a women with very large breasts wearing nothing but a red silky bra!" Ranma shouted, pointing behind Happosai as he readied the red-hot rock with his other hand. Happosai immediately turned around, looking feverishly for the women in question when he suddenly felt an intense burning in his back. Ranma had hurled the rock at Happosai while he wasn't looking, striking him in the center of his back, directly above his shoulder blades.  
  
"OW! HOT! Damn you, Ranma! There was no woman back there! Prepare to die!" Happosai screamed before rushing at Ranma and punching Ranma in the face with all his strength. He was horrified to discover, however, that Ranma was unmoved, unharmed, and didn't even flinch.  
  
"How does ultimate weakness feel, Happosai? It seems that your height isn't the only thing you have equivalent to a baby." Ranma said with an evil smirk before punting Happosai into the stratosphere, missing the vow of vengeance that was hurled back at him.  
  
"Heh. That should teach him. I'll remove it in a day or so, maybe then he'll learn to be nicer." Ranma muttered to himself, completely forgetting he had intentionally tried to anger the old man before he turned and ran towards Furinkan High, being very, very late.  
  
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Incarnated  
  
Chapter 0  
  
Happosai's Vengeance

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Happosai sat in his small room, digging through his possessions in a desperate attempt to find what he was looking for.  
  
"Ah ha! Here it is! My last pack of Super Soba!" He said with joy, grabbing the package of noodles and hugging them to his chest.  
  
"With these, I'll become super strong! But with the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion, it may not be enough. Arg! But there must be some way to get back at him! If only I had the chart Cologne took from me..." Happosai said to himself, clenching his fist in anger.  
  
"RANMA NO BAKA!!"  
  
WHAM!  
  
Happosai looked through the window and watched Ranma sail into the distance, briefly wondering what horrifically strong creature could possibly lay a blow on him when he looked to see Akane with her mallet breathing heavily. That's when it clicked.  
  
"Of course! Ranma never dodged Akane's blows! If I give Akane the super soba and get her mad at Ranma, she'll pound him like last time. But a mere beating isn't enough. I want to break him! I want him to feel a pain that he can't even imagine. There must be some way to make Akane stronger...the Dogi! What did Soun do with it?" Happosai suddenly remembered a call to the second hand store as he laughed evilly, his plan coming together in his mind.  
  
-1 week later-  
  
It was close to 6 AM and Happosai was currently sitting outside Akane's window with a small bag on his back. He quickly looked around to ensure the coast was clear before crawling through the open window and slowly entering Akane's room, stealthily making his way to her bed as he slowly pulled her covers back and pulled a simple pair of shorts and a shirt from his sack before using his quick clothing swap technique to remove Akane's pajamas and dress her in the clothes, not even disturbing her sleep.  
  
"Alright, you know what to do. And keep the pyrotechnics to a minimum, I don't want to wake her up." Happosai whispered into the bag as Do-Chan crawled out and nodded, leaping onto its master and beginning the flashy transformation sequence as the spare clothes Happosai stuck on Akane were shredded and the Dogi took their place. Happosai then quickly redressed Akane in her pajamas, concealing the Dogi completely as she continued to sleep, a slight movement of her head the only sign that she had noticed anything at all.  
  
"And now for the final touches, a dose of liquid super soba injected directly into the blood stream!" Happosai said in a whispered shout, pulling out a syringe and quickly injecting Akane before putting her covers back over her and sneaking out of the room, heading towards Ranma's room for the second phase of his plan. He sat on Ranma's chest and waited an hour before he slapped his fist into his palm, finally discovering a way to wake him up despite the weakness Moxibustion.  
  
SPLASH!  
  
"SWEETO!"  
  
"ARG!! GET OFFA ME, YA OLD FREAK!" Ranma-Chan screamed, punching Happosai off of her and heading to the bathroom to change genders before returning male and rather annoyed as he struck out at the diminutive master, missing by a mile at every attempt.  
  
"Damn it! Hold still!" Ranma shouted, swinging and missing again and again as Happosai jumped back and about every time, laughing madly.  
  
"I may be weak, but I haven't lost an ounce of my speed, Ranma! Try and catch me all you like! HAHAHA!" Happosai shouted, jumping over Ranma's head and quickly planting an object into Ranma's back pocket, the pigtailed boy none the wiser as he continued trying to hit the old pervert.  
  
"What's all that Racket?" Akane said groggily, walking down the stairs to see Ranma chasing Happosai around.  
  
'Heh, and now to put my plan into action.' Happosai thought evilly, as he dodged again, putting Ranma between himself and Akane.  
  
"So Ranma, how was your date with Shampoo last night?" Happosai asked, Ranma faltered and crashed into the wall as Akane's eye started to twitch.  
  
"You went on a date with Shampoo?!" She screamed, her aura glowing brighter than usual.  
  
"What? Of course not! The old freak is lying!" He shouted, trying to bash Happosai again.  
  
"Come now Ranma, no need to be ashamed of your sexual victory! Taking the virginity of an Amazon warrior is a feat that should be held with pride." Ranma ran through the wall that time while Akane practically exploded, her battle aura filled the room and noticeably raised the temperature several degrees.  
  
"A...Akane, it's not true. You gotta believe me." Ranma muttered, backing away from the girl who suddenly became much more intimidating. Happosai gave an evil smirk, finally deciding to use his trump card as he leapt over Ranma and snatched the object he had previously planted in Ranma's pocket, revealing them to be a pair of panties.  
  
"Why Ranma, I never expected you to be the type to keep trophies. And they're even soiled! You make your master proud!" Happosai said, holding the panties with crocodile tears in his eyes as this piece of evidence was the last thing Akane needed to damn Ranma to a world of absolute agony. Her aura raged with such a fury that Ranma had to strain his eyes just to see, the room had become uncomfortably hot and the paint was actually being stripped from the walls by the intense aura.  
  
"RANMA..."Akane growled inhumanly, manifesting a mallet made of solid steal as she cranked it back.  
  
"NO..." Ranma was sweating profusely as he suddenly realized his end was near. If he let this hit him like all the other times, he would surely be killed.  
  
"HENTAI!!!!!!" Akane swung the mighty hammer as Ranma used every last bit of his defense and even a Ki shield to dampen the blow as it him square in the chest. The mallet was reduced to powder from the force of the blow and Ranma created a sonic boom that shattered all the windows throughout the neighborhood as he flew, hitting the roof with such a force, that his body tore a large portion of the second story off the Tendo home and reduced it to a shower of splinter and sawdust that rained down upon the neighborhood. Nabiki was rudely awakened by what seemed like a bomb going off and seeing that she wasn't far off, as more than 80 percent of her room was now missing, nothing left but a gaping hole and jagged wooden edges. Ranma was nowhere to be found, his body seemingly vanishing after impact from the speed he had gone at. Happosai was absolutely giddy to see his plan had worked like a charm and quickly struck the button in the front of Akane's suit and injected her with a liquid antidote of the super soba via a blowgun, removing her increased strength quickly. Akane didn't notice any of this as she just looked through the hole. Her room had essentially been atomized, since it was directly beneath the area where Ranma exited at high speed, and virtually nothing was left. A small chunk of a barbell here, what was once her carpet over there, and a single item that slowly floated to the ground that caught Akane's eye. It was a leaf with a piece of paper attached to it with Akane's name written on it. Akane suddenly remembered the festival she and Ranma went to, and the warning the man gave them about what would happen should one of the slips be lost or destroyed. Akane had kept it hidden in her closet ever since, making sure she never lost it. Now this half was all that was left, the side containing Ranma's name most likely obliterated like the rest of the house. Akane stared at the leaf for a long time before she fell to her knees and began to cry, sawdust and wood chunks hitting the ground around her.  
  
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Kagome leaned against the fence during PE and watched her friends playing baseball with a dejected look on her face. She was still rather annoyed about the way Inuyasha dumped her in the well, and had begun to wonder if she would ever go back.  
  
'It's been three whole days. Why doesn't he come and get me?' She thought to herself, still looking a bit depressed as she watched the game.  
  
"Kagome! Guess what? Hojo has been looking all over the place for you." A black haired girl said as she and two others approached her. She noticed the boy in question coming her way as the three girls quickly left, not wanting to interrupt the two.  
  
"How have you been feeling these days, Kagome? Are you any better?" Hojo asked as he got close enough, causing Kagome to look away from the game and pay more attention.  
  
"Huh? Yeah...I guess." She replied, a little confused.  
  
"That's great! Then how about going to see a movie with me this Saturday?" He asked hopefully.  
  
"This Saturday?" Kagome asked, sounding a bit surprised.  
  
"Yeah. I'll bring a therapeutic back pad for you. Or, have you made other plans already?" He replied, sounding a bit hesitant on the second part.  
  
"Well, not exactly." Kagome said, before thinking, 'Inuyasha will come for me by then, won't he?'  
  
"Just say yes! You totally blew him off on your last date, right?" One of Kagome's friends asked, having been hiding behind a bleacher.  
  
"How do you know that?!" Kagome responded, sounding a bit surprised. The three girls then stood up and dragged Kagome away, wanting to talk to her personally.  
  
"What's with you Kagome, Hojo is a total hunk! Do you like someone else?" The lead girl asked as they dragged Kagome a decent distance away.  
  
"What? Of course not!" Kagome insisted, not knowing what her friend was talking about.  
  
"Then what's the problem? Take your chances when you can! Cute boys aren't just gonna fall out of the sky, you know." She said, before a strange whistling sound caused everyone to look skyward.  
  
"LOOK OUT!"  
  
"RUN FOR IT!" Students shouted as they cleared the baseball field, looking in shock as a red and black blur struck the center of the field with such force that an impressive crater was created as well as a dust cloud 12 feet high as the object that hit skipped and hit the ground again before bouncing and once again striking the ground and skidding to a stop, looking very much like a rock being hurled across the surface of a pond as the dust from the impacts cleared and the craters were clearly visible, as well as the object that created them.  
  
"It's a person!" Someone shouted in surprise as everyone gathered around the downed teen. He looked a bit older then the student body and was wearing some severely damaged red and black Chinese clothing. His dirty black pigtail lay limply beside his face as the female students present easily noticed his handsome features.  
  
"Hey, it's a cute boy!" One of Kagome's friends said, before turning to the previous speaker.  
  
"A cute boy fell out of the sky. Quick, say something else. Maybe you can make it rain money." Before the girl could try a similar comment, everyone was silenced as the boy groaned and tried to get up just to collapse again and pass out. It was then that members of the crowd noticed a slightly darker color of red staining his shirt from the inside, and getting larger.  
  
"Oh my god, he's bleeding! We have to get him to the nurse!" Kagome said, pulling open his shirt to gasp in horror at the sizeable hole in his chest with a large, jagged piece of wood sticking through it. No one had noticed the hole in the back of his shirt, or the piece of a support beam that was imbedded there.  
  
"Screw the nurse, this guy needs am ambulance!" One of the boys said, pulling out a cell phone and quickly calling the paramedics. Throughout this Kagome was trying to stop the bleeding with the boy's shirt while looking at his face in shock. A sudden sense of déjà vu overcame her as she suddenly imagined the boy without the pigtail and much longer hair, wearing clothing made from Fire rat fur.  
  
'He looks just like Inuyasha...' She thought to herself as time passed and a pair of paramedics rushed onto the scene and put the boy on a stretcher.  
  
"He's been impaled, looks like it punctured his lung." The paramedic said as they took him towards the ambulance.  
  
"We'd better get moving, he wouldn't last long with a wound like that." The other one said as they put the boy in the back of the ambulance and drove away, leaving Kagome to stew in her thoughts.  
  
- - - - - -   
  
He looked about himself without much care, he had a lot to think about as he suddenly felt himself reconsidering his decision. He shook his head and firmed his gaze. He'd go through with it, if it meant he could be with her. Suddenly his danger sense exploded as he jumped to the side and looked in surprise as three arrows imbedded themselves into the tree he had previously been standing in front of. He turned towards his attacker intent on ending their miserable life when he gasped in shock at who it was. The beautiful black haired woman dressed as a Priestess with a bow in her hands and a look of pure hatred in her eyes. The sight made his blood run cold, as he suddenly felt his heart being ripped in half and torn to shreds. She had betrayed him! How dare she!? After he said he was willing to give up his very being for her, she turned around and tries to kill him? Another volley of arrows flew his way as he dashed off into the trees, feeling nothing but bitter hatred and despair at his own stupidity. He should have known better, it was too good to be true. He only had one choice left, and he could forget his troubles in a single, swift movement. He rushed into the village and ran through the guards without bothering with them. He saw his target and quickly broke through the doors, grinning maliciously as his eyes fell upon the spherical jewel that would take away his pain. He grabbed it and dodged a hail of arrows before knocking over the lamps in the room and jumping through the roof, letting the exploding building below him to hurl him towards the forest as he ran at full speed. At last he could do what he has dreamed for his entire life. Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't hear the whistling of the air as the arrow tore through it and struck him in the left lung. He gasped in pain and surprise as the small arrow lifted him off his feet and pinned him to the go-shinboku, causing him to lose his grip on the jewel in the process. His gaze fell upon the one that had fired the arrow to see it was the same woman that he had trusted his life to, the one that betrayed him. His vision began to blur all of a sudden, making the distinct features of the forest around him become dirty combinations of random colors. He wasn't sure if his hindered vision was due to the tears that began to fall from his eyes, or the fatal wound that was slowly killing him. All he knew was absolute agony, and complete despair. The woman he loved had betrayed him, she had killed him. A single word came to his lips as he struggled to speak before his life was cut short, but the blackness came before he could speak.  
  
- - - - - -   
  
"Kikyo..." Ranma moaned as he came to. He blinked a few times and wiped the tears from his eyes to see that he was sitting in a hospital room. He wasn't quite sure how he got there, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the mother of all hammers on a crash course with his torso.  
  
"God...when did she get so strong? I think she broke some of my ribs." Ranma said as he looked down and saw the bandages wrapped around his chest and assumed he was correct. He didn't notice the bloody stake sitting in a trashcan on the other side of the room as he got out of bed and stretched a bit, wincing as he aggravated his wound.  
  
"Hurts more than a broken rib. Maybe she ruptured something." Ranma muttered, feeling the cast like bandages covering his chest and wondering what the hell she did to him. It was then that Ranma heard a gasp as he turned and looked at a nurse, who looked like she was about to have a heart attack.  
  
"Sir, you shouldn't be walking around! You just got out of surgery, you need to let your wounds heal." The nurse said as she tried to direct Ranma back to the bed.  
  
"Surgery? What the hell are you talking about?" He asked as he was pushed back into the bed.  
  
"You were found in the fiend of the local school with a piece of a broken rafter impaled in your chest. You're lucky to be alive. Half a centimeter to the left and your spine would have been severed." Ranma looked absolutely shocked at this as the nurse started to leave, at which point he ripped his bandages off.  
  
"Sir! What are you..." The nurse stopped and her jaw dropped in shock as she saw Ranma's torso. There was nothing left but a jagged scar on his chest.  
  
"How did you...No one can heal that fast! Your operation was only 4 days ago!" the nurse said in shock, feeling Ranma's chest to ensure that it was in fact real.  
  
"What? Four days, that'd make today Sunday. I gotta get home!" Ranma said as he quickly put his clothing on and rushed out the door, leaving the nurse completely stupefied as she stared at where he once was.  
  
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TBC  
  
(Author's Notes)  
  
Next time, Ranma and Kagome will meet up again. And what's all this talk about Reincarnation?  
  
Ryo-wolf


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and probably the same other people. Etc, etc. you know how this goes.  
  
Speech " "  
  
Thoughts ' '  
  
Sounds   
  
Signs [ ]  
  
English =" "=  
  
Chinese (" ")  
  
------------------------------  
  
It was almost noon in the large city of Tokyo as the citizens bustled about to and fro looking for restaurants to eat their lunch in. Among these people was a certain pigtailed boy, who soon found himself in a small ramen shop and sighed as counted his cash. He barely had enough for a ketchup packet.  
  
"Damn, I spent all my cash on new clothes..." Ranma grumbled as he placed the few remaining yen coins into the pocket of his new pants. It was indeed true that Ranma had purchased new clothing, as his previous attire was little more than tattered rags due to the impact with the roof and wind resistance he met, not to mention the impacts with the baseball field, all four of them. He was now sporting a simple pair of urban Camouflage pants and a red T-shirt. His usual clothing style of Chinese silk was a lot more expensive than he thought, so he went with what he was currently wearing, the cheapest clothing he could find, and he still barely managed to afford it.  
  
"I feel like Ryu Kumon." Ranma grumbled again as he looked down at his outfit before walking out of the restaurant, his stomach growling in protest as he returned to the streets. It had been nearly 2 weeks since his violent exit of Nerima, and for the life of him he couldn't manage to get back. No matter how hard he tried he was unable to return to the district, he couldn't even find it. Thus he had been living in Tokyo the entire time, living off the dehydrated food he found in an old abandoned bomb shelter, which doubled as his place of residence.  
  
"I need a job." He said to himself, walking through the restaurant area of Tokyo, trying to find anywhere that was offering employment. He eventually comes across a small restaurant with a help wanted sign near the door, seeing that they were offering custodial jobs as Ranma just shrugged, he's done worse. He strolled into the Restaurant and headed towards the counter, about to ask about the Help Wanted sign when his thoughts were disturbed by the conversation going on behind him.  
  
"If that were true I'd be thrilled, but the deal is he's still totally hung up over his first girlfriend. He doesn't have the time of day for me." A young girl said to her friends at a nearby both. Such conversations would normally bore him out of his mind, but there was something about the girl's voice that sounded familiar.  
  
"Sound's like the guy is really passionate and full of conflicting emotions." Another girl said as Ranma silently scoffed to himself. 'Sounds like some pansy.' He thought.  
  
"You got that right. He actually tried to kill some guy for trying to come on to me." The first girl replied as Ranma once again felt like the voice sounded familiar. There was also something strange about her Aura, without even looking at her Ranma could feel the spiritual power flowing off her body, which also felt familiar for some reason.  
  
"Jeez, who is this G..." Ranma began as he turned around, stopping dead in his tracts as he looked at the girl sitting at the booth. A Barrage of flashbacks fired through his brain at a mile a second; flashes of things he had never seen before, and yet felt so familiar. It was like his entire life was passing by his eyes, and yet it wasn't his life at all. He could see a young silver haired boy playing in a field of grass; he could feel the depression and sadness as townsfolk fled his presence in a state of near terror. He could smell a faint perfume from a woman who cared about him, a woman who was once his mother, he could hear the sound of an arrow piercing the wind, he could taste his own blood in his mouth. Finally the flashes ended, with a single vision before him. It was a young woman in her mid twenties in a shine maiden's attire, with a bow in her hands and a look of hatred on her face. He could feel the hatred from her, but he himself could not share this emotion. He was overwhelmed with a sense of sadness and depression, he had been betrayed.  
  
"K...Kikyo..." Ranma muttered under his breath, his body quivering from the sudden dark emotion as his body began to softly glow a sickly green. The second the near silent words left his lips the girl that had triggered the memories whipped her head around and stared at him in complete shock.  
  
'It's that guy from the baseball field, did he just...call me Kikyo?' Kagome thought, suddenly shaken from her shock as the boy ran out of the restaurant at full speed.  
  
"Kagome, are you listening to us?" One of her friends asked, before being surprised as the girl got up and ran from the restaurant, hoping to catch Ranma but finding he was long gone.  
  
'He looks exactly like Inuyasha, and he called me Kikyo, I'm sure he did. Does this mean...' Kagome thought to herself, looking into the street for a few moments before turning around and going back to her seat in the booth.  
  
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Incarnated  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Inuyasha, incarnated  
  
--------------------------------  
  
Ranma sighed as he walked through the streets of Tokyo once again; happy that he had managed to find some yen in a traveling pack in the bomb shelter he had taken to living in, since he managed to eat decent food for once. It was starting to get late and Ranma figured it was time to get out of Tokyo, as he couldn't manage to get to Nerima under his own power and he didn't know anybody that could take him there.  
  
"Maybe I'll just start on the training trip again. I might just run into Ryoga, he has a better chance of getting back to Nerima than I do." Ranma grumbled to himself before he continued his near aimless meanderings. His thoughts went back to the strange flashbacks he had been having since Akane smacked him with that hammer of hers. First that weird dream in the hospital, then that strange vision in the restaurant the day before.  
  
"Who is Kikyo?" Ranma mumbled to himself, trying to figure out why he couldn't get his mind off the strange shine maiden from his visions. The pigtailed boy quickly lost track of time as he looked around and found himself in a heavily forested area, wondering when he managed to leave Tokyo.  
  
"I'd better set up Camp, it will only get darker from here." He mumbled to himself, dropping his pack and quickly setting up camp. His thoughts once again went to the strange girl before shifting towards himself. He couldn't help but wonder who these memories belonged to, as they certainly weren't from his own perspective. Ranma sighed again and looked towards the sky, watching the stars from his spot on the ground. He suddenly turned his head to the side for a moment and shot a curious glance at the obscenely tall tree he could see in the distance. Curiosity quickly got the better of him as he stood and headed towards the towering tree, soon finding that the forest he had stopped in was the site of a rather large shrine, and from his vantage point on the hill, he could easily tell he was still in Tokyo. That didn't matter, however, as he just kept walking until he was standing before the immense Tree. It was honestly massive, going at least hundreds of meters into the air and being thicker than Ranma probably was lying down. The thing that caught Ranma's attention the most, however, was the scar like mark on the surface of the trunk, being about as big as Ranma's own body was. Suddenly, Ranma gasped in pain as it felt like his whole body was on fire, his chest began to glow and his aura made itself known to its full power, covering the majority of the shrine grounds before condensing around his body, shining brightly.  
  
"Wh...What's happening...? My body...It feels like I'm being ripped in two..." Ranma said before falling to his knees and screaming in pain. He noticed at that very instant that another scream of agony sounded in unison with his own, as well as a large blue aura that seemed to be emanating from the nearby shrine house when the pain suddenly stopped. The Pigtailed boy got to his feet and quickly ran off into the forest, wanting to get far away from that tree as he could.  
  
--------------------  
  
Inuyasha sighed as he sat on the edge of the well. He knew that Kaede was right. He had to go back for Kagome and get her to come back. The hard part was how.  
  
"It doesn't matter, I'll just go and drag her back if I have to." Inuyasha grumbled before jumping down the well, resurfacing in Kagome's time and landed in the Shrine building. He was about to head out towards the main house when he stopped in his tracks and gasped. His whole body suddenly felt like it was immersed in flames as his body began to glow and his bright blue demonic aura expanded, filling the whole room before condensing around his body. It was at that time that a stabbing pain was felt in the very fiber of his being, as he cried out in pain.  
  
"My soul...It feels like it's being...Torn from my body... AAARRRGGG!!!" Inuyasha cried, in far too much pain to maintain his balance as he fell backward and into the well. Before he knew it he was back in his own time and the pain had suddenly stopped.  
  
"What was that?" Inuyasha muttered to himself as he stood and looked down at the dirt of the ground beneath him, wondering whether or not he should go back or not.  
  
"Whatever that was it's obviously only on Kagome's side, which means she might be in danger. I have to go back!" He said, once again crossing the time barrier as he leapt out of the shrine and looked around. The pain was suddenly back, but it was slowly disappearing, as if whatever was causing it was getting further away.  
  
"It's going away, good. I'd better make sure Kagome is okay." The half demon said to himself before jumping towards the house.  
  
----------------  
  
Ranma continued to run for his life back into the forest, nearly losing his footing and crashing head first into a tree as the pain returned, but was slowly disappearing.  
  
"Whatever it was that caused that is at the shrine." Ranma muttered to himself as he came to a stop and looked back towards the massive tree. He once again found himself drawn towards it, but the adrenaline still pumping through his veins from that near death experience was keeping him from jumping head long into danger. Thus, he stayed where he was standing well into the night, eventually falling asleep as the pain once again disappeared.  
  
------------------  
  
A few days had past as Ranma quickly went through a kata in the heat of the rising sun. The shadows of the trees creating fantastical patterns to fall on everything in the small clearing as the Saotome Boy jumped and attacked, dodged and weaved, and went through a variety of acrobatic maneuvers that seemed to defied the laws of physics and gravity, hovering in midair far longer than should be possible while weaving around and changing direction without the aid of a surface to do so, even performing a few mid air jumps before returning to the ground with barely a noise, continuing his martial arts exercise. The sun was nearing the zenith of its arc by the time Ranma finally finished, visibly exhausted from the use of his art.  
  
"Heh, five hours. I almost beat my old record." Ranma muttered to himself as he sat down and ate some canned food he had with him. After a few moments he finished the small meal and sighed in contentment, taking a big whiff of the air before gagging on the overwhelming stench he was putting off. Apparently he had worked up quite the sweat.  
  
"Damn, I smell like shit. Isn't there a river or something around here?" Ranma grumbled as he got up and walked further into the woods, seeing a stream cutting through the area. With a quick motion he unclothed himself and jumped into the waters, turning into a woman almost instantly as she went about the process of washing the sweat and dirt from her body.  
  
"Damn, even my hair smells like crap." Ranma-Chan said to herself as she pulled the small string out of her hair, letting it fall out to its full length before submerging her head. A quick rinse and she was done, exiting the waters of the river and dunking her clothes in as well to wash the stench from them. Since she was already wet anyway she didn't bother waiting for the clothes to dry and simply put them on, braiding her hair back into a pigtail and tying it off again before heading back towards camp. After a few steps she noticed that her hair had fallen out of its braid and was flowing free again, a quick look at the ground showed that the string she had used to tie it had snapped.  
  
"Cheap ass strings. Jeez, I never should have given away that Dragon Whisker, that thing was built to last." Ranma-Chan grumbled before arriving back at the campsite, wringing out some liquid from her clothes and hair into a kettle and began to heat it up. After a few moments it was hot enough and Ranma was once again male as he packed up his stuff and headed off into the forest, soon coming back to the shrine. Over the past few days he always found himself returning to this spot, he didn't know why, but he had an overwhelming urge to return.  
  
"Hey Grandpa, that weird guy is staring at the tree again." Sota said, gazing out the door at the figure in the red shirt and Camou pants that was standing before the Go-shinboku.  
  
"I see you have taken an interest in the Go-Shinboku, young man." The old man said as he walked out of the house and towards the pigtailed boy. Ranma merely nodded and turned back towards the tree, staring at it again.  
  
"So that's what it is, huh? I always thought is was just a big tree, old man." Ranma replied sarcastically, causing the old man to scoff before walking closer.  
  
"This tree has been here for hundreds of years, and legends say that its holy aura can clear a troubled mind." He explained, joining Ranma in his gazing.  
  
"If only that were true. My mind has been rather troubled lately." Ranma replied as he stared up at the tree again. Maybe that was why he always returned to the tree. He did tend to enter a near meditative state when he was near it. The martial artist's gaze lingered for a moment towards the near by shrine building, seeing an old well located within.  
  
"What's up with that well? Any special legends to it too?" Ranma asked as he left the tree and walked into the shrine, looking down into the well.  
  
"Ah. This is the Bone Eater's Well. Legends say that it was used to as a dumping ground for demon bones, and after a few days they would simply disappear. I have reason to believe that the legends are indeed true, and that it holds a gateway to time itself." The old man said as Ranma scoffed, looking down into the depths of the well.  
  
"Sounds impressive, looks like a crummy old well to me." Ranma muttered as he leaned over the edge.  
  
"Buyo, what are you doing in here? Shoo! Shoo!" The old man said as a horrible shiver ran up Ranma's spine. The devil itself was in the room; he could feel its presence.  
  
"Meow?" Buyo sounded, standing barely a meter away from Ranma's feet.  
  
"CAAAAATTTT!!!!!" Ranma screamed in horror as he backed up against the edge of the well, loosing his footing and plummeting down into its depth. He was ill prepared to break his fall due to the overwhelming fear as he struck the bottom head first, knocking himself unconscious as he never even noticed the psychedelic display of colors as he crossed the stream of time.  
  
---------------------------  
  
Ranma groaned as he came to, sitting up in the dust and the dirt as the world stopped spinning and his vision cleared. All around him were the aged stones one would expect to see in the bottom of a well, as well as vines and moss growing abundantly.  
  
"I must have fallen down the well. I don't sense a cat anymore, good." Ranma said to himself as he leapt out of the well and faltered as he reached ground level, the pain from before suddenly returning as he landed on the nearby grass and looked around, not seeing any sign of the shrine nor the old man.  
  
"Ok, I'm officially freaked out now." Ranma thought before the surprise was cut short by the weird pain all through his body. It was faint, which meant it was far away, which was perfect by Ranma's standards as he didn't want to be anywhere near it.  
  
--------------------  
  
'That pain...it's back again...' Inuyasha thought, though it didn't really matter as he was in enough pain as it was.  
  
'The battle is long over, and yet my body still burns from the power of the Wind Scar. Now this pain returns to me. This soul-wrenching pain that feels like it could easily kill me. Does my suffering ever end?' He asked himself, wishing he could move, just to get even a few inches further away from the source of his pain.  
  
'What is the cause of this pain? Why does my very being feel like it struggles to maintain existence? I cannot stand this any longer.' Inuyasha thought, opening his eyes and looking about the small hut he was being put in. He struggled to stand, wanting to move, move farther away from the source of the pain, even if it were only a few centimeters.  
  
"Inuyasha! Are you in pain?" Shippou asked as he entered the hut, running over to the side of the half demon.  
  
"I guess that's to be expected. Tetsusaiga protected you, but you still took the brunt of the Wind Scar. Sango's hurt too. She shouldn't move for a while, she tries to brush her wounds off but she did get hit with her own weapon." Shippou explained as Inuyasha turned his head, looking towards the girl lying on the other side of the hut.  
  
"And Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, the pain clear in his voice, still trying to move farther from its source.  
  
"She went with Miroku to search for medicinal herbs and food." The small fox demon explained, before going over to help Sango and leaving the room. It was around then that the room began to glow, Kikyo's Soul Collectors showing themselves. Inuyasha stood instantly, using the Tetsusaiga as a crutch as he pathetically made his way out of the hut, happy to find that he was getting further from the pain. He crutched forward slowly, getting to a hill and losing his footing as he tumbled down it, landing on his face at the bottom. He struggled to stand, but only managed to sit as he looked up into the trees, seeing Kikyo appear there.  
  
---------------  
  
Ranma sighed as he walked through the heavily wooded area near the well. It was obvious that this wasn't modern day Japan, and the black haired martial artist hoped he'd be able to find something in the way of civilization soon.  
  
'Huh? Danger.' He thought, turning to the left suddenly as a blur of motion flew at him. In an instant he was airborne, the giant earthen spike that was hurled at him colliding with the ground beneath him and tearing an impressive hole in it.  
  
"That was quite the jump, for a human." Ranma landed on the spire that was now sticking out of the rock and turned towards the source of the voice, noticing a strange creature that was standing there. It looked like a standard man, only his skin was solid green, and he had what looked like a rattlesnake tail hanging down from the back of his head, almost reaching the ground.  
  
"I may be human, but at least I don't have my butt attached directly to my head, ass face." Ranma taunted, smirking as he saw his opponent's anger rise.  
  
"I shall eat you alive!!!" he screamed, dashing at Ranma with incredible speed, his mouth widening and a pair of snake fangs falling down from the top of his jaw. Ranma's smirk got bigger as he blew some of his free floating hair out of his eyes and back flipped off the rock, pulling back his leg in the process.  
  
"Hey, I think this is yours!" He shouted, punting the giant rock with such force that it was pulled from the ground and hurled through the air, intercepting the snake man in mid leap and dragging him to the ground. Ranma landed and admired his work, waiting for the dust to settle while tapping his foot.  
  
"Is that all you got, ass face?" He called out. The rock pile rumbled and the snake man shot out, glowing brightly with a demonic aura. Ranma merely smirked in response, cooling his chi and creating the soul of ice, preparing for his ultimate technique.  
  
"I am Raigyo the destroyer! And you will die, human!" Ass face shouted, vainly chasing after Ranma as he led the two of them into a spiral.  
  
"Shut up, ya stinking worm!" Ranma yelled back, getting rather annoyed with the snakes repeated death threats. The spiral was complete and Ranma couldn't help but feel slightly impressed by his opponent, he was putting off such an aura that he could clearly see his own clash with it within the spiral.  
  
"HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!!!!!" Ranma shouted, uppercutting the snake, ripping through his aura of cold and forcing his fist into the aura of hot. A surge of power flowed across the spiral like electricity as the Tornado formed, blasting the snake into utter oblivion as he screamed in agony, torn to bits by the raging torrent of Ranma's wind.  
  
--------Meanwhile  
  
Kaede turned towards Inuyasha's forest and stared in shocked awe at the Tornado of demonic energy that was rising into the sky.  
  
"That demonic aura...Everyone! Gather your spears and arrows!" She called out, mobilizing the town as quickly as she could. This demon was powerful for its aura to be felt from such a distance.  
  
'This feels so familiar. Why do I sense Inuyasha's presense? Surely this tornado is not his doing.'  
  
-----------------------  
  
TBC  
  
Author's Notes: Considering that this thing got a whopping 4 votes on my site and totally blew the other fics out of the water, I assumed it would be worth continuing.  
  
--Ryo-Wolf---- 


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and probably the same other people. Etc, etc. you know how this goes.  
  
Speech " "  
  
Thoughts ' '  
  
Sounds   
  
Signs [ ]  
  
English =" "=  
  
Chinese (" ")  
  
------------------------------  
  
Ranma smirked in victory as he held his arm high, feeling the winds of his tornado dying down as his hair fell back down and the grass around him was once again still. The black haired martial artist stood perfectly still for a few moments before looking skyward, searching for his opponent.  
  
"Where the hell is he? He couldn't have gone up that far." Ranma said aloud to himself, wondering where his opponent was. The Saotome boy closed his eyes and tried to remember the clash, something seemed off.  
  
'Hmm. I remember hitting him, and I can remember feeling the blow connect. But then there was that weird energy I felt, and then suddenly it seemed like the blast was passing through him or something...' Ranma opened his eyes and looked skyward again, seeing nothing but blue and clouds.  
  
"Did I vaporize him?" Ranma's musing was cut short by the sound of hundreds of bowstrings becoming taunt and multiple metallic weapons clinking against their hilts.  
  
"You there! Demon! What doest thou in Inuyasha's forest?!" Ranma turned his head and looked towards the small army of angry villagers. Half of them seemed scared out of their minds, and those that weren't visibly quaking in their boots still seemed reluctant to attack. The one that was most prominent though was the old woman that was leading them. Ranma couldn't help but stare at her, noticing the odd katana hilt she was using as an eye patch.  
  
"Demon? Who are you callin' a demon ya old hag?" Ranma scoffed, blowing some hair out of his face as he glared at the woman. Most of the villagers took a step back at his intense stare, though the old woman barely faltered.  
  
"Your human guise does not mask your Demonic aura. Fire!" Had Ranma been expecting them to shoot, he would have dodged a lot more arrows than he did, however he wasn't properly prepared for the assault and was reduced to a pin cushion rather quickly.  
  
"Hey! Watch it! That hurts ya know!" Ranma growled, getting up and pulling the arrows out of his body, revealing little more than flesh damage to the frightened villagers. (1)  
  
"Ye take a hail of arrows yet thou sayst thou are human? Such a jest. Shoot again!" She commanded as Ranma growled, watching the villagers ready more arrows.  
  
"I don't think so. Kachu Tenshin, AMAGURIKEN!!!" Ranma shouted as he rushed towards the villagers just as the arrows flew. In an instant he was standing behind them, a quiver worth of arrows in each hand.  
  
'Impossible! How can he be so fast? He is stronger than I anticipated...' Kaede thought as Ranma crushed the arrows in his hand to a pile of splinters before facing the villagers again.  
  
"Are you done yet?" He asked, getting rather tired of this. He didn't want to have to hurt them, but if they tried to shoot him again he wouldn't have much of a choice. As he said this, however, he brought his aura to bear, surprising all those present, and sending some of them running for their lives.  
  
"Ye say ye be human, yet ye command immense demon energy. Explain thyself! Be ye possessed, enchanted or a demon?" The old woman said, a little unnerved by the powerful blue aura around the strange boy. For the first time she noticed his strange clothing and immediately knew something was up. Clothing like his did not exist in this era.  
  
'He must be from Kagome's time. But does she not come from a time without demons? And Inuyasha's presence, I can feel it on this boy...could it be?' Kaede thought as she looked at Ranma. His face certainly looked like Inuyasha's. If it weren't for the shorter black hair and the human ears she'd say he was a mirror image of him.  
  
"What be thy name?" She asked as Ranma's aura started to fade. Ranma scoffed and shifted his weight before pointing at himself.  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes school of Martial Arts. Who are you, ya old hag?" Ranma responded, looking at Kaede with a smirk on his face.  
  
"I am Kaede, the priestess of this village. Thine presence is not welcome here, demon. Leave at once." She said simply before walking back towards the village. The rest of the villagers shortly followed as Ranma just stood there, shaking in annoyance.  
  
"Hey, I ain't going nowhere! Get back here you old hag!" Ranma shouted, watching Kaede leave.  
  
"I have no desire to deal with ye, Reincarnation of Inuyasha. Leave, or face the consequences." Kaede said, not even turning around as she continued heading towards the village.  
  
"Reincarnation of...Wait a minute! Who the hell is Inuyasha!?"  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
Incarnated  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Unmeiai, the Fortune Teller  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
Ranma had an annoyed look on his face as left the village, now sporting a necklace that he couldn't take off.  
  
"Stupid old woman, won't let me in her stupid village. Fine! I don't care! I didn't want to go to her stupid village anyway." Ranma said, struggling to remove the weird prayer beads the priestess had forced on his head with that freaky chant of hers.  
  
---Flashback---  
  
"Hey! Get back her old woman!" Ranma shouted as he ran after Kaede, seeing her turn around and face him as she pulled some prayer beads from her robe.  
  
"I warned ye, demon. Now face thy punishment." She said, chanting as the prayer beads broke apart and encircled Ranma's neck. He barely noticed as he leapt at the old woman, intending to land directly in front of her as she coughed into her hand to clear her throat and look at him.  
  
"Back, boy."(2) The prayer beads around Ranma's neck flashed and he suddenly felt himself freeze in midair and mysteriously get hurled back in the opposite direction, landing roughly on his back a few hundred feet away.  
  
"What the hell was that? What are these things?!" Ranma wondered as he grabbed the beads around his neck and tried to take them off, only to get another back command and get hurled once more. Getting the hint, Ranma quickly stood and growled a bit before leaving, seeing no reason to get hurled again.  
  
---------------  
  
Ranma continued walking and struggling to remove the beads, wondering why the hell they felt like they were fused to his neck as he couldn't budge them an inch.  
  
"Stupid old lady and her stupid beads. Come off damn you!" Ranma commanded, pumping his arms with Ki and pulling with all his strength in a futile attempt to remove them.  
  
"Jeez, this sucks. How can anyone stand to have some magic necklace that screws them over every time someone gives a command?" Ranma muttered in annoyance, continuing on his way.  
  
------------------  
  
Meanwhile  
  
Inuyasha sneezed briefly before dodging another one of Goshinki's blows. He was getting tired of jumping around like an idiot while Goshinki dodged all his attacks.  
  
"You just thought you were tired of jumping around like an idiot while I dodge all your attacks, didn't you?" Goshinki asked as Inuyasha growled and leapt at the giant purple demon.  
  
"I'm tired of your stupid mind reading trick! Wind Scar!!" Inuyasha shouted, slashing Tetsusaiga towards the electric disturbance that represented the wind scar only to be surprised as Goshinki moved with great speed, passing the wind scar before Inuyasha managed to slice it and catching the Tetsusaiga in his mouth.  
  
"Ah, the famous Tetsusaiga. But right now it is nothing more than a dog's tooth." Goshinki managed to say despite having a giant falchion lodged in his gullet as he bit down on the blade. To everyone's shock and surprise the sword snapped in two with amazing ease as Inuyasha landed with little more than a handle.  
  
"Tetsusaiga...You broke it." Inuyasha said in shocked horror when Goshinki suddenly slashed at him, tearing a rather sizable hole in his chest as he was hurled by the blow, Tetsusaiga clattering to the ground nearby and reverting to a rusted, and now broken, katana.  
  
"Inuyasha!!!!!" Kagome shouted, fear clear on her face at seeing him go down.  
  
"Inuyasha, your mind is empty. Is it despair from losing your precious fang or have you died on me?" Goshinki asked, humor clear in his voice. Kagome tries to run to Inuyasha's side only to get stopped by Miroku, who shortly afterward was swatted away by Goshinki.  
  
"you will be the next to die, Kagome." Goshinki said, lumbering forward with unnecessary slowness. Unnoticed by anyone present, Inuyasha's body began to pulse as the wind changed. He stood and growled under his breath, looking at his claws with suddenly blood red eyes as they visibly became stronger and sharper.  
  
'The pain is gone, this new power that runs through me has rid myself of it. Goshinki will die!' Oni-Inuyasha thought as he leapt at Goshinki, ripping his arm in half with the greatest of ease as blood and gore rained down on the grounds around him.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Ranma suddenly felt like he was struck by lightning. His entire being felt like it was being shredded as he fell to the ground in absolute agony.  
  
"AAAARRRGGGG!!!" He screamed out in pain, thrashing around on the dirt road wildly. The soul wrenching pain mysteriously quadrupling in force as his very being felt like it was being shredded.  
  
"You look like you are in much pain child. Having your own soul attempt to kill you must be quite the experience." Ranma looked up through one eye, the other clutched shut tightly from the pain as he looked at the old woman standing before him.  
  
"What'd...you say...you old ghoul?" Ranma struggled to say, trying to get to his knees as the horrific pain sent him back to the ground.  
  
"Stop trying to move, demon boy. It will only make it worse. Your counterparts power up will end soon, do not worry." The old woman said as Ranma continued to thrash. After a few more moments the pain suddenly stopped, returning to the usual annoying throb Ranma was used to.  
  
"It's...It stopped. How'd you know that would happen?" Ranma asked as he stood, seeing he easily towered over the waist high woman.  
  
"I see all with this eye of mine. Past, present, future, fate itself is mine to view. My name is Unmeiai the fortune teller." She said, looking up at Ranma. The boy in question repressed the urge to gasp in shock as he looked at her left eye, which was black where it should be white with 4 irises and pupils, the one in the center being a circle with a diamond shaped pupil, and the three surrounding it being triangles with circular pupils, the triangles slowly rotating around the central iris.  
  
"Whatever, I'm out of here." Ranma said, trying to ignore the creepy eye as he headed down the road.  
  
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you, Ranma Saotome. That pain of yours will only get worse the closer you get to your counterpart. Though at this point you have little choice, as your soul has already entered the final stages of your condition, and would not allow you to traverse back to your own time through the well." Ranma stopped and turned around, looking at the old woman in shock.  
  
"How'd you..."  
  
"I know all, see all. You are Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes, Son of Genma, reincarnation of Inuyasha. You're destiny is an interesting one, truly interesting. Though you're current predicament is the most interesting of all, demon boy." Unmeiai said as Ranma walked over to her and sat down in front of her, putting the two at eye level as Ranma was forced to gaze in the weird eye of hers.  
  
"Alright fortune teller, I believe you're story about seeing destiny an' all. So spill it, how do I stop this pain?" Ranma asked as Unmeiai smirked, looking at him with her weird eye.  
  
"You are in an interesting predicament indeed. One soul cannot exist twice in one time period. To do so is a paradox that threatens the very fabric of time. Currently, you are breaking this rule, as both you and your previous incarnation are alive and well, both having the same amount of the same soul." She said before clearing her throat and continuing.  
  
"Normally having the same soul exist twice is an impossibility, as reincarnation does not take place until a sufficient time has passed, and all existing forms of time travel will not return them to a time where they were incarnated. However, your case is rather interesting, as your soul mate has tampered with that balance." She said as Ranma raised an eyebrow.  
  
"My soul mate, eh?" He said, sounding unconvinced.  
  
"Yes. Soul mates are like two halves of one whole. Where one goes, the other follows. Your soul mates soul from this era, as well as your incarnation's both left this world on the same day, being reincarnated in your time. However, your soul mate returned to the past, and while her previous vessel was long gone, yours was not. It was preserved by a powerful spell, stuck to a tree in the nearby forest." Unmeiai said, making sure Ranma was paying attention before continuing.  
  
"This rift in time between your souls had to be rectified. Under normal circumstances, either you would find yourself in the past or your soul mate would return to the future. Unfortunately, she came across your previous vessel. Your soul needed to return to hers, but rather than bringing you to the past it took the easier rout, and reentered the preserved vessel. Inuyasha was revived and is now still alive. This caused a major problem you're your soul existed twice in a time frame where it could easily coexist thanks to present time travel methods, but no problem would occur as long as you stayed in your respective eras. But that didn't happen, did it?" The fortuneteller said, finishing in an accusative tone as she narrowed her normal eye at Ranma.  
  
"Hey, don't blame me, alright? I don't even know how I got here." Ranma said, a little annoyed by the way she was looking at him.  
  
"Yes, I know that. The thing is, when your soul mate journeyed back in time and caused the resurrection of your previous incarnation, she changed her destiny, and yours by association. She and your previous incarnation bonded like soul mates would, dooming you to a life without yours. Thus, destiny had you set to be with another woman. You two would not get along well and your relationship would end, causing you to split and met other people. You would continue your life going from person to person, never truly being happy until you died, and reunited with your soul mate in the next life. However, due to a magical incantation your destiny changed again. You have been split from the woman you were supposed to end up with permanently, making your destiny fall back on its original plan. Thus, fate was manipulated in such a way that the two of you would meet. This resulted in you and your previous incarnation to come into contact, bringing us to your condition and the pain you feel." The fortuneteller said as Ranma yawned a bit, being a little annoyed with the long speech.  
  
"About time..." He muttered as Unmeiai just ignored him and continued.  
  
"You have created a paradox by coming into contact with your previous incarnation, thus both your souls are trying to fix the paradox in the easiest way, killing its host." That got Ranma's attention real fast as he sat up and shocked in shock, quieting down as the old woman began to continue.  
  
"Should one of you perish, then your soul would go to the spirit world and the paradox will be gone, as only one soul would remain. However, the will of both yourself and your counterpart is far stronger than the stability of your soul, meaning that you won't be able to die from this pain."  
  
"Well that's a relief." Ranma said, visibly relaxing.  
  
"Instead, you're soul will destroy itself, eradicating you and all your incarnations, past and future, from existence."  
  
"WHAT?!?!?" Ranma shouted in horror, jumping to his feet and staring at the woman. That just couldn't be!  
  
"There's got to be some way to stop this, there has to be!" He said, getting a bit hysterical.  
  
"Unfortunately, I only know of one. Either hope your incarnation dies before your soul is destroyed, or kill yourself. At least then you will be reincarnated." Ranma collapsed to the ground at that point, feeling the pain in his soul again as he thought about his choices.  
  
"There may be another way, though." At this Ranma sat back up and looked eagerly at the old woman, willing to do anything at that point.  
  
"What is it? I'll do whatever it is!"  
  
"Well, I'm not quite sure what would occur should you and your counterpart meet face to face. The closer you are to one another, the more the pain intensifies, but should contact be made, who knows what could occur. It is very likely that your souls will leave your bodies, and erratically move between you two in an attempt to normalize and possibly succeed. It is also possible that it could destroy the both of you. I'm not sure." Ranma firmed his gaze at that and nodded his head, before walking down the path.  
  
"Where are you going?" Unmeiai asked as she saw Ranma walking away.  
  
"I'm going to find that previous incarnation of myself and kick his ass if I have to. I ain't getting erased from existence!" Ranma shouted back, not bothering to turn around.  
  
"The pain will only get worse when you get closer. I doubt you will be able to stand by the time to meet him." Ranma didn't really care about her warnings as he kept walking, knowing he was going the right way since the pain was slowly intensifying.  
  
"One last thing before you go child. Do not fear the cat eye, it will be your salvation. Though if it becomes a blessing or a curse is up to you." With that, Unmeiai turned and walked away, going the opposite way Ranma was heading.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind."  
  
----------------------  
  
TBC  
  
(1) Ranma has been shot in the head with an arrow before and was barely harmed, so I assume he could handle a volley.  
  
(2) A command given to dogs to get them to go away from you, thus it hurls Ranma. I figured if Inuyasha has one, Ranma should too.  
  
--Ryo-Wolf---- 


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and probably the same other people. Etc, etc. you know how this goes.

Speech " "

Thoughts ' '

Sounds

Signs

English " "

Chinese (" ")

------------------------------

The sun was shining brightly through the clouds and bathing the land beneath it in its warming rays. Birds sang happily from the trees and little woodland creatures scurried about in search of food or a usable den. The villagers in nearby towns awoke to begin a hard day's work of farming, hunting, or a number of other things that needed to be done for them to survive. All in all it seemed like it would be a normal day for the people of the land, if this story was centered on them, that is.

"Long hair sucks." A red haired girl said as she continued her trek through the woods. She was covered in sweat and dirt and looked like she had seen many better days, but the main cause of her complaints was currently plastered to the sides of her head and hanging in her eyes. Ranma continued to grumble as she once again pushed her hair out of her face, only to have it fall right back where it was before and anger the girl further. Ever since she lost that damn string she had been unable to control her hair in any manner, and it was getting to the point that she was almost considering just cutting it off.

"All I need is a bath. If my hair is clean it won't cling as much. Too bad these stupid backwater people haven't invented shampoo or soap yet. Hell, they don't even have hot water in ready supply!" Ranma said as she continued to complain. It was the primary cause for her current gender, after all. Hot water seemed to be as rare around here as gold or diamonds. It just wasn't fair.

"What I wouldn't give for some pots and pans or a kettle or something. At least then I could heat my own water. But no, I can't afford to buy one. I don't even know if they've been invented yet. Damn, I should have paid more attention in history class." Ranma continued on her way, trying to pay attention to the pain that she was so used to by this point that it was pretty easy to ignore all together.

"I'm still getting closer, I think. How far away is this guy anyway? I feel like I've been walking for wee...ARG!!!" Ranma began but was cut off as the pain suddenly intensified. The redhead collapsed in agony and began to writhe around, unable to handle the jump in pain.

"D...Damn. Not this again..." She grumbled between clenched teeth, painfully trying to crawl towards her destination despite the pain.

'What's the deal with this super pain anyway?' Ranma thought, still moving slowly forward. What Ranma did not know was that Inuyasha had just turned into a yokai while fighting Sesshoumaru and his new sword. All she did know was that she was pissed off. After a few moments the extreme pain died off and was replaced by the significantly weaker pain the redhead was used to. Thus she got back to her feet and continued walking normally, feeling the pain increase as she got closer to her counterpart.

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Incarnated

Chapter 3

Ranma and Inuyasha

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"Sure is quiet and peaceful out today." Shippou said with a sigh as their small group walked along the rocky path. As his words suggested the day was indeed quiet and peaceful. The sky was nearly cloudless and a vibrant blue while their path was a simple and pleasant one thus far.

"You said it. Our battles seem just like a bad dream." Kagome replied. She briefly looked skyward and tried to enjoy the moment, knowing that they would likely be plunged into a life and death situation pretty soon.

'Damn it, stupid pain. I can't believe I made it out of the fights with Kaijimbo and Sesshoumaru alive. I don't know if I could handle taking anyone else on.' Inuyasha thought in annoyance. He barely heard what Shippou said or Kagome's follow up response as he was busy trying to ignore the mind numbing pain he was feeling. Every step took far more effort than it should have and every breath was labored. He was doing his best to hide his pain, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep the others from noticing.

"I can sense a Shikon Jewel Shard, and it's closing in fast!" Kagome announced as a brief gale force wind passed them in great haste. Koga skid to a stop as the winds died and looked at their group with a smirk, making Inuyasha growl in annoyance.

"Yo." The wolf demon said simply, walking up the small incline towards the group's location.

'Oh fuck, I just had to think that, didn't I?' Inuyasha thought to himself.

"I picked up on your scent Kagome, so I came to see ya. You've been well, I hope." Koga said, still climbing the incline. Inuyasha winced a bit as he stepped in-between Koga and Kagome.

"What do you want you mangy wolf?" Inuyasha asked, rather annoyed by the wolf's presence. Koga just growled at him in response.

"Come on. Don't go picking a fight already." Kagome said, trying to stop any hostilities that may arise between the two.

"Stay out of it. I may have to kill him, or worse." Inuyasha said to her, not taking his eyes off Koga. The half demon winced a bit and tried to hide his heavy breathing, seeing Koga raise an eyebrow and pick his ear.

"You haven't lost any of your arrogance, mutt. You look like you can barely stand, I don't see how you're gonna beat me." Koga said, looking at Inuyasha through uninterested eyes as he growled and put his hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga.

"Why you..." He grumbled under his breath. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to wield the heavier Tetsusaiga in his current condition, but he sure as hell was going to try.

"Hey, quit being so mean to my poor friend, Koga. He only gets so uptight when you get around because he thinks you're gonna steal Kagome from him." Shippou said from his perch on Inuyasha's shoulder, earning the ire of the half demon in question.

"Save it!" Inuyasha shouted, trying and failing to punch Shippou as the fox demon leapt away to land on Miroku's head. Inuyasha's balance was thrown off from the movement as he fell to his knees, unable to hide his heavy breathing as sweat poured down his face.

"Inuyasha! Are you alright?" Kagome asked in a panic, getting down on her knees to try and pick Inuyasha back up. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him. He was obviously in a lot of pain, but what was causing it was the question.

"I'm fine! I don't need any...help!" Inuyasha grumbled, throwing his arm to the side to stop Kagome. He unsheathed his sword and struck it against the ground, putting his weight on the rusty blade to return to his feet. He was still breathing rather heavily from the strain as he continued to wince with every movement.

'It's close. Too close.' Inuyasha thought to himself. It was the only explanation for the severity of the pain at the moment. He stood where he was a little longer, still supporting himself with his sword as he briefly noticed the pain subsiding. In fact, it was going away pretty quickly, and soon enough he was able to stand again as it became far less annoying.

'Huh. That's odd. I wonder what happened.'

--Meanwhile--

"ARG!!! (garble garble) Damn it!!" Ranma said, being halfway immersed in water as she did so. The red head thrashed around in annoyance as she was dragged down river, her head concealed in a veil of wet red hair as she tried to stay about the surface. She grumbled to herself in annoyance and continued to thrash as she was dragged downstream. She began to think back to how she managed to get into this mess. How was she supposed to know that was a load bearing tree? It sure didn't look like it was the only thing holding an entire dam in place. Now she found herself hurtling down a river at blinding speed while getting dragged by who knows how many tons of water. It just wasn't her day.

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Night had already fallen as Inuyasha and his group continued their trek through the forest. The half demon was walking far ahead of the rest of the group, intentionally trying to outrun them so they would stop asking him stupid questions about his condition.

"Are you sure you're alright, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, clearly worried for his well being as the person in question merely scoffed.

"I'm fine! How many times do I gotta tell you that?" Inuyasha growled in annoyance. He was getting sick and tired of all the damn questions. It's not like he was some stupid kid who couldn't take care of himself. Kagome sat back a bit on Kirara's back, still looking at Inuyasha with concern.

'I know you're hurting, Inuyasha. I just wish you would stop being so stubborn about it and let me help you.' She thought to herself.

"Wait...I can smell Naraku!" Inuyasha suddenly announced, rushing off into the forest ahead of the others. Miroku and Kirara noticed his sudden increase in speed and quickly picked up the pace to follow him.

"Wait up Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, but the half demon wasn't paying enough attention to hear what she had to say. Inuyasha soon arrived at a T-section in the forest, briefly seeing Koga flash by in a burst of speed.

"Koga! What do you think you're doing?" Inuyasha shouted out as he began to chase after the wolf demon. From the look of him he was pretty spooked. If Inuyasha didn't know any better, he would swear Koga was running from something.

"Leave me alone! Can't you see I'm busy?!" The wolf demon shouted back at his pursuer as the two ran. Inuyasha was about to respond when the trees exploded behind them, revealing a purple haired man with a face mask and shackles in hot pursuit of Koga. The man briefly turned his expressionless eyes towards Inuyasha before lashing out with his hand. The half demon barely managed to jump back in time to dodge the blow, landing on his knees a few feet away.

"I see you're still running away as usual Koga." Inuyasha said, only to turn around and see a complete lack of the wolf demon in question. Before Inuyasha could voice his find, however, the strange purple haired demon struck at him again.

"Eh?" He said, leaping back a bit as the spot he was standing before was crushed under the demon's fist.

"I see you've finally arrived, Inuyasha." A voice said from within the forest. Inuyasha turned his head and saw a man in a baboon pelt emerge from the shadows of the trees, knowing immediately that it was Naraku.

"Naraku." Inuyasha growled under his voice, angered at seeing the bane of his existence.

"Naraku!" Miroku shouted out as he and the others approached. Naraku chuckled to himself as they arrived before standing behind the purple haired demon, who simply sat where he was.

"Koga must have fled when he realized he couldn't win. He's more intelligent than I took him for." The baboon said, chuckling once again as he did so.

"Wait a minute, is that another one of Naraku's incarnations?" Miroku questioned, having spotted the purple haired demon for the first time.

"Juromaru, I shall remove your shackles. Go forth and kill to your heart's content." Naraku said, and just as he did so the face mask and chains on Juromaru suddenly broke apart. Without hesitation the purple haired demon forcibly removed Naraku's head from his shoulders, causing it to fall to the ground with a thump. Inuyasha and the others looked on in surprise as this occurred, unable to believe that Juromaru would behead his own comrade.

"Juromaru is unstoppable now that his mask has been removed. He will slaughter everything in his wake." The decapitated head spoke shortly after hitting the ground. Shortly afterward it was enveloped in a purple light, and then vanished into the ground.

'I don't like the looks of this Juromaru. He rubs me the wrong way.' Inuyasha thought as he prepared himself for attack. Juromaru opened his mouth and exhaled loudly, showing that an odd glowing light was emitting from it. For the briefest moments, Inuyasha thought he saw a blur of movement coming from Juromaru's mouth. Suddenly Juromaru lunged forward, and Inuyasha didn't have time to think about it. The half demon quickly leapt backwards and away from the punch that smashed a hole in the ground before countering by smashing his fist against Juromaru's face. Juromaru flew back from the blow and crashed against the ground, getting up again as if he didn't notice being hit.

'What's with this guy? He didn't even try to dodge my attack. Is this a trap?' Before Inuyasha could continue his thought, the ground behind him erupted as he suddenly had the unfortunate experience of feeling his innards devoured at mach speeds. In an instant something struck him, partially ate him, and then shot out of his abdomen and landed in front of Juromaru.

'Definitely...a...trap...' Inuyasha thought to himself as he collapsed to his knees, coughing up a bit of blood. It was a good thing that he was half demon; otherwise that injury would have been infinitely more fatal than it was.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out in surprise. Just as she did so the strange thing that had punched a hole in Inuyasha seemed to materialize, having been a glowing light before. It took the shape of an odd worm like creature with scythe like appendages and a head disturbingly similar to Juromaru's.

"Thanks for the meal. Your innards were simply delicious." The odd worm monster said. The majority of those gathered could only look at it with a state of shocked horror as it spoke. They simply weren't expecting words from the thing.

"What the hell is that thing?" Miroku asked, staring at the creature in shock.

"I am Kageromaru, and I have been lying dormant inside of Juromaru's belly. Juromaru obeys nobody but me. Not even Naraku." The tiny creature known as Kageromaru said, causing a few gasps of shock amongst those gathered.

"Now how about we feast on the others, Juromaru? We'll gorge ourselves!" With that, Kageromaru dashed forward at an intense speed, aiming straight for the gathered group.

"WIND TUNNEL!!" Miroku shouted, his voice seeming to echo off nothingness as he reached for the prayer beads on his arm. He never got the chance to unleash the void as Kageromaru flashed by him.

"Ah! What the?!" Miroku spun around quickly, trying to see where the creature went with little success.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted. She quickly let loose with her obscenely large boomerang in an attempt to hit Juromaru, only to have the demon swat it out of the air without trouble. A flash of moment from above signaled Kageromaru's fast approach towards the demon hunter, who was too busy going after her boomerang to notice.

"Sango!" Miroku called out, dashing in front of the girl and pushing her aside as Kageromaru dug into his shoulder and back. The tiny demon leapt aside shortly afterward, bouncing off the floor once before glaring at the monk with a chuckle.

"WIND TUNNEL!" Miroku called out once more, this time managing to open the hole in his hand as everything in front of it was pulled into its darkness. Kageromaru proved to be too fast for it, however, and Miroku soon found himself desperately moving the wind tunnel in an attempt to catch the elusive creature.

'How are we supposed to beat these guys?' Inuyasha thought, struggling to regain his feet. He was suddenly struck with another soul wrenching pain, sending the half demon back to his knees.

'Damn it. Not now!'

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Ranma awoke groggily and coughed up some liquid. She felt like crap, and judging from her state of dampness she had recently left the river. However, the case of her unusual clothing was something she was rather curious about. Rather than the T-shirt and camouflage slacks she had been wearing, she was now dressed in miko garb.

"...The hell?" Ranma muttered, looking down at her new red and white clothing as a women dressed identically walked into the room.

"Oh, you're awake. You are very lucky I came across you. You surely would have drowned otherwise. I'm afraid your clothes were torn beyond recognition. You can keep those if you want." The priestess said in a rather serene tone as the redhead just scratched her head nervously.

"Heh... Thanks, I guess. How long have I been out?" Ranma asked her host, seeing the girl get thoughtful for a second before shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm not sure. It couldn't have been more than a few hours." She said. Ranma nodded in response and sat up.

"You wouldn't happen to have any hot water would you?" Ranma asked, looking at the thoughtful expression that crossed the other girl's face again.

"Hot water? No, not on hand. I suppose you could build a fire and heat some water from the river. But that would take quite a while." She said as Ranma sighed and stood up, shaking her head.

"Figures. I'm never going to get any hot water at this rate. Thanks anyway." Ranma said as she started to leave.

"Well, if you really need hot water, I suppose I could let you take a pot to heat it in." The priestess said, leaving the room and returning with a simple metal pot that she handed to Ranma.

"Thanks for your hospitality. I really need to be on my way though." The red head said, brushing some loose hair out of her face and pushing it behind her ear before heading out of the room and exiting the temple grounds she had been brought to.

"Either I passed out a while ago upriver or I need to pay more attention. I never even noticed a shrine around here." Ranma muttered to herself, marveling at the large building she had just left. After a great deal of work and time, Ranma had collected wood and formed a simple fire pit. With a quick scoop from the nearby river the pot was full and ready to be heated. Unfortunately, Ranma had no ways of lighting the wood.

"Damn it. I'd use my ki, but I can't quite get the hang of heat. Cold is easy, but starting a fire is another thing all together. I'm not even sure if I could even do it without a spark anyway." Ranma said to herself, then grabbed too sticks and went about lighting it the old fashion way. After even more time the logs finally caught, and with care and patience Ranma managed to get a decent fire going. After that, she simply held the pot over the flames and let the fire heat the water contained within until she was sure it was enough. With a mighty splash, Ranma was male again.

"Ha! After all these days I'm finally a guy again. Now I can continue moving." With that Ranma stood and started to walk. However, the boy barely took four steps before he heard a rumble and the sky suddenly opened up with a downpour. Before he even knew what happened he was a she once more.

"Ah, Screw it! I'll become a guy later. I'm not gonna waste another hour heating water." Ranma grumbled to herself, and then headed off again. She drew her attention to the pain in her being and began to follow it, hoping she would soon come to its source.

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A few days had past and Ranma was about at her wits end. Not only had she still failed to find the damn source of her pain, but by judging from the fluctuations in the pain itself, she had been passed. Twice.

"God damn it. I swear when I find this guy I'm going to punch him in the face." Ranma grumbled to herself, continuing to trudge on. The redhead briefly thought back on her life in Nerima, wishing she could just go back to it. After what seemed to be a few weeks in this god forsaken hellhole she was actually starting to miss the little things of her old life. Akane hitting him with her mallet, Shampoo glomping him, the occasional spar with Ryoga. Hell, she was even starting to miss Kuno's stupidity.

"God damn it. How'd I end up like this anyway?" She wondered, continuing her walk. She idly looked down into the nearby river, seeing her reflection in its surface. Her state of dress seemed very familiar. And for a split second she could have sworn that she saw her reflection change to that of a black haired girl for a few moments. Ranma's vision tunneled for a second as she suddenly became lost in thought.

"Are...you alright?" He asked her. They had just finished rowing down a river. They had reached the dock and upon exiting their boat, she had tripped over a loose plank and fell into his arms. He could feel his face heating up a little as he held her, not knowing how else to respond to the situation but to ask for her well being.

"I'm fine. Thank you, In..."

Ranma was knocked from the strange vision and fell to her knees. The pain had intensified for the third time, and she was having trouble breathing while it continued to tear at her. Her eyes squeezed shut so forcefully that tears began to fall down her face as she simply tried to withstand the pain.

"No. I won't be beaten by it this time!" Ranma managed to get out, her body beginning to glow. She began to growl under her breath as her aura increased in power, falling off her body like wisps of smoke as she tried to will the pain away. Her low growl turned into a full blown roar as she shouted at the top of her lungs, her aura exploding outward and starting to cut apart near by plants. This went on for a few minutes as Ranma continued to fight off the pain. Unknown to her, Inuyasha was a fair distance away currently slaughtering a group of bandits after having killed the moth demon, Gatenmaru. No one noticed it, but for a split second, Oni-Inuyasha winced. He even slowed down a bit, but continued to fight anyway. After about 5 minutes the pain died and so did Ranma's aura, bringing her back to her knees as sweat poured down her face and her breathing became ragged.

"Heh. I knew I could beat it." She groaned, trying to get back to her feet but instead passed out.

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Inuyasha walked across the molten rock path he found himself on, lost in thought as he head towards his destination. He was also lost in pain, but that was beside the point. He was pretty sure that whatever was causing his pain was external, as it seemed to intensify judging by his location. It also seemed to be moving, and moving in his direction. Whatever it was, it was looking for him.

'Is this another one of Naraku's tricks? No. He would have exploited it by now if it was. If he caused this he could have killed me with Juromaru and Kageromaru. Then what else could it be? Maybe someone cast a curse on me? I don't remember anything like that happening.' Inuyasha's previous thoughts about his recent transformation were replaced by those that were hypothesizing about his unusual health problem. He sighed, and then continued walking. Soon he came across a giant skull sitting in a rock formation, also known as Totosai's domain.

"Hey, you there Totosai?" Inuyasha asked, walking into the small forge. He saw the old man across the room, smashing a red hot blade with his unusually large mallet.

"We need to talk." He said simply. Totosai turned around and noticed the hanyou's presence, setting down his mallet and turning around.

"Ah. I expected you would come." The old man responded before getting to his feet.

"What seems to be the trouble?" He asked in a slightly tired tone, watching as Inuyasha walked to the other side of his home and sat down, removing the Tetsusaiga from his waist as he did so.

"I still can't wield the Tetsusaiga. It's too heavy." He said, placing the sword down in-between himself and Totosai, who sat down across from him.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Inuyasha. It's hard to believe that you still have trouble with wielding the Tetsusaiga." Totosai said, shaking his head as he did so.

"Hey, quiet alright! That's why I need you to make it lighter. It's hard enough fighting demons off with this pain, but if I can't wield the Tetsusaiga I might as well lie down and die." Inuyasha said, looking as Totosai rose an eyebrow.

"Pain? What pain?" He asked, causing Inuyasha to curse himself under his breath.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied.

"I distinctly heard you mention some kind of pain. If you want my help, you need to come clean about it." Totosai said as Inuyasha growled a bit.

"Alright, fine. Ever since I went to Kagome's time the last time I've been having these weird pains. And it's not just in my gut or nothing, but my whole body. It feels like something is tearing me apart at my edges. Like I'm getting shredded from the inside out." Inuyasha explained. Totosai seemed to be thinking pretty intently about this before turning his head to the side a bit.

"Do you always feel this pain?" He asked. Inuyasha dropped his head a bit, not wanting to look at the old man. Instead he looked down at where the Tetsusaiga lay, briefly wondering if he would get to the point and tell him how to make it lighter.

"Yeah. It never goes away. I've gotten used to it recently, but it tends to get weaker and stronger every now and then. It feels like its intensity changes depending on my proximity to something. I don't know what it is, but I do know that it is heading towards me."

"What?! It's coming here?" Totosai asked, getting very fearful. 'A demon powerful enough to inflict such a thing would surely be capable of things I don't want to consider. I need to get Inuyasha away from here before it shows up.' He thought.

"Inuyasha, if you want to make your sword lighter you will need to kill Ryukotsusei." Totosai said seriously, causing a grunt of shock near Inuyasha's arm.

"Did you just say...Ryukotsusei?" Myoga asked. He was just about to latch onto Inuyasha's neck and suck out some sweet blood to drink, but Totosai's words stopped him.

"Yes I did. And you are going to show him the way to Ryukotsusei." Totosai said, looking at the little flea.

"Who's Ryukotsusei?" Inuyasha asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"He is the demon your father battled and sealed into a dormant sleep. Why do you think your sword is so heavy? It is because your fang is weaker than your father's, and you must prove that your fang is worthy to be a part of your father's sword. You'd best be on your way. Myoga will show you the way."

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Ranma breathed in heavily and the exhaled with equal difficulty. Every step forward she took was full of anguish. For every foot of distance she covered her pain seemed to triple.

"He's close. Real close. I can...feel it..." she muttered, her left eye shut tightly in an eternal wince as she continued to carry herself forward. Each breath she took was labored and every time she took a step her body seemed to get heavier. With every continuing second her muscles protested with greater intensity. Her nerves screamed at her through horrific torment to get away from the source of the pain, and her brain almost demanded that she run for her very life. Ranma refused to stop though, and kept moving forward.

"Arg!" Ranma turned her head up a bit as a boy with long silver hair stumbled over a small drop and collapsed to the ground.

"It's you. I know you're him." Ranma muttered, a pained tone in her voice. She could literally see the source of her pain flowing off his body. It was like staring into the flames that were in the process of burning her. Ranma didn't need to be told that this was who she was looking for. It was too easy to tell.

"So...you're the cause of this pain then. Priestess wench." Inuyasha grumbled, struggling to his feet as he pulled the Tetsusaiga from his belt, sheath and all, and used it as a walking stick. He looked at the red headed girl before him and smirked, seeing the agonizing power rolling off her body. She was the one alright.

"If I could move easier I'd have killed you by now, so in the mean time how about you tell me why you've given me this damn pain?" Inuyasha asked in great irritation, taking a step forward and almost whimpering from the wave of absolute agony that flowed into his being.

"Hey, I didn't... give you... squat! According to that... stupid...ghoul. I'm you're reincarnation." Ranma explained, taking a step forward and resisting the urge to scream in pain. A bit of blood dripped down from the side of her mouth, flowing from the place her teeth pierced her lip.

"My reincarnation!? I get reincarnated...as a woman!? What did I do...to deserve...that?" Inuyasha grumbled, taking yet another step forward and falling to his knees. He struggled for a minute, every muscle in his body protesting it as he returned to his feet.

"Hey! Shut up! I ain't...no woman!" Ranma exclaimed, taking another step forward and nearly passed out. The two of them were only a mere 5 feet apart, and both were shaking and sweating profusely. Both had labored breathing, and the both of them could barely stand, let alone walk.

"Screw this! I'm gonna...kill you!" Inuyasha shouted, taking one hand off the Tetsusaiga and prepared his claws. Despite his weakened state, he figured he had enough power to jump forward and close the gap between them. Than all he had to do was shove his hand through the girl's chest and that would be the end of it. With a grunt of effort, Inuyasha managed to hurl himself forward the last few feet. As he flew through the air the two were suddenly enveloped in their own auras. Ranma's bright orange light wrapped around her body and expanded outward just as Inuyasha's blue did the same with him. The two auras struck and exploded with a bright white light, enveloping both Ranma and Inuyasha within it.

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Meanwhile...

Naraku gazed at the image shown through Kanna's mirror, seeing the confrontation between Ranma and Inuyasha. Just moments ago he had witnessed a conversation between Inuyasha and that flea about a demon he was doing to kill, and now this interesting arrival of a woman claiming to be Inuyasha's reincarnation.

"How interesting. Very interesting indeed." He muttered to himself. He would keep an eye on these two and see if Inuyasha did in fact go to fight Ryukotsusei, but in the meantime his curiosity about this new arrival could be quenched at least.

'What is going on within that orb of light I wonder?' He mused to himself, still gazing into the mirror.

---------------------

Ranma opened her eyes and immediately wished she hadn't as her vision was flooded with light. She waited a few moments and opened them again as she saw that she and Inuyasha were floating in midair within the brightest light she had ever seen, though what really got her attention were the blue orbs that were rapidly circling through them, flying about and entering their bodies at random as if they were in a great hurry. Every time one of the orbs hit Ranma's body, she would twitch a little. However, one of the orbs seemed to make a weird tingle flow over her body whenever it hit. She could have sworn her hair got a little longer and brighter the last time it hit her.

'Our souls...' Ranma thought, briefly wondering how her consciousness was still in her body despite the fact her soul was flying about freely and even entered Inuyasha's body several times. As her train of thought neared the meaning of the universe Ranma figured it was best not to think about it, knowing her head would start to hurt if she thought too much on a subject she could barely comprehend.

'I can't...move...' Ranma thought, realizing she was completely paralyzed as she had attempted to shake her head of philosophic thoughts. Her body felt numb, but their was a strange pain at the edges of her body that seemed to be slowing eating her away, as if she were slowly dissolving like a sugar cube in a glass of water.

'I'm dying... No, I'm being erased from existence!' Ranma thought as the process sped up. She could actively see her body vanishing as the orbiting souls increased in speed and seemed to be on the verge of exploding.

'No! I won't accept this! I won't lose so easily!!' Ranma tried to scream, but could only think it as she shut her eyes tightly, plunging her world back into darkness as she attempted to will herself not to disappear.

Heh, Heh, Heh... Ranma heard in her mind as suddenly a slit pupil appeared in her vision, despite the fact her eyes were closed. Ranma found herself floating in a realm of blackness with a giant cat eye staring her down. The red haired girl shivered in horror, turning her astral body around only to gaze straight into obliteration.

'Ack!' Ranma thought. She turned away from the maddening concept of non-existence and back towards the giant eye, which caused the unusual chuckle to fill her head again.

'So, I have to choose between eradication and the devil itself. I hate hard choices.' Ranma thought to herself, staying where she was in-between the two.

'Damn that old crone, she lied to me. She knew exactly what would happen if I ran into my counterpart. She even told me that shit about the cat-eye!' Ranma thought angrily, gazing straight into the eye that tormented her. She knew she didn't have time to think, or to be afraid. Her very existence hung in the balance. After all, the psychic ghoul said not to fear the stupid cat-eye, she might as well listen to the old bat.

"I will not be beaten by this!!!" Ranma shouted out as the mysterious chuckle sounded once again. With that Ranma dove forward towards the eye, trying not to look at it or realize what creature it belonged to as she came close enough to touch it. The cat eye seemed to blink before flashing brightly and then vanishing. After another chuckle following its departure Ranma blacked out, never noticing the powerful explosion erupting from the souls as she did so.

--------------------

Inuyasha snarled in anger as he floated in the nothingness of the white, struggling to move his body as he glared hatefully at Ranma.

'I don't know what kind of sorcery this is, but it's pissing me off!' He thought, staring at her in anger as he noticed the weird orbs flying about. Had he had a clear view of them, he would have known that they were souls and the fact they weren't in their respective bodies was a very bad thing. However he could not see them as they were shrouded in powerful winds, crackling against each other with more scars than he could count.

'It's perfect. I'll just cut through the Wind Scar and blast this bitch to hell and back.' Inuyasha thought as he struggled to move his body, noticing he was completely paralyzed with quite a bit of annoyance. Suddenly one of the orbs crashed into his body and passed through him. An unusual tingling swept over his body as his arm twitched and raised a little, stopping in front of his torso. The orb shot out his back and began flying around randomly once again, the tingling going with it.

'I moved, when that orb hit me I could move for a few seconds. I have to time this just right...' Inuyasha thought as he slowly but surely managed to put his hand on the Tetsusaiga's handle and pulled it from its scabbard. The scabbard was blown away from him and clattered against the ground far away from him. He was holding the Tetsusaiga high above his head and was staring hard at the scars, moving ever so slightly each time he was hit to align himself. Each movement was performed as fast as he could to economize on the brief time the orbs had contact with him as he glared at Ranma, waiting for his opportunity.

'Once that orb hits me again I'll transform the Tetsusaiga. Then its weight alone should be enough to smash through the wind scar.' Inuyasha thought as his opportunity arrived, the soul colliding with him as the Tetsusaiga transformed and began to fall towards the scar he could see between him and Ranma.

"Wind Scar!" Inuyasha shouted just as Ranma cried out as well. His blade fell and the scar was cleanly severed, but instead of blasting Ranma like Inuyasha thought it would, the scar simply erupted, blasting the both of them as the already bright sphere of light was eclipsed by the wind scar's explosion. Inuyasha wasn't able to hold on to consciousness through this and blacked out, the Tetsusaiga clattering to the ground a few feet away from where his body landed.

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Where once there was a forested path a crater now lay, and within that crater two figures could be seen. Both looked remarkably similar, but for those that gave more than a passing glance a few obvious differences could be seen. While both wore a red hakama and white kosode, one of the two also had a red uwagi on over his upper body. While both indeed had similar facial structure and appearance, one of the two was clearly female, as her breasts made obvious. And while both had hair silver in color, one had a tint of blue while the other had a slight hint of pink. And while both of them had a pair of unusual ears on top of their heads, one had dog like ears out to the sides, and the other had more of a feline appearance with her ears on top. Of course, they were also both wearing prayer beads around their necks, but they were so similar it would be hard to distinguish between them.

"Holy hell. What just happened?" Inuyasha groaned as he came into consciousness. A few things made themselves known as he came to. For one thing, his brain felt like someone had tossed it into a microwave and promptly cooked it for an hour or two. For another thing his body felt...different...somehow. He wasn't sure how, but something was definitely off. And lastly, the pain was gone.

"Wait...the pain is gone?" he muttered in disbelief as this realization came to him. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so...so...what was the opposite of 'in pain' anyway? Bah. Doesn't matter. The pain was gone and that's all that really mattered. He might actually be able to fight this Ryukotsusei now. It was around this time that Inuyasha noticed another person's presence in the crater, and upon looking at her he was rendered speechless for a few moments.

'She reeks of demon. And she ain't no half-breed either. How did I not notice that before? How did I not notice the long silver hair before?' Inuyasha thought, recovering his Tetsusaiga before approaching the downed girl. Now that he was able to get a closer look he had to admit she did look a hell of a lot like him. She even smelled kinda like him, with a few key differences. For one, she smelled like a girl, and for another she smelled like a cat.

'Damn. I get reincarnated as a woman. Of all the rotten luck. And not just any woman, a freaking cat demon. What kami do I end up pissing off for this to happen?' Inuyasha thought in annoyance as he continued to look down at Ranma's prone form.

"Whatever. I have more important business to attend to. I still need to find Ryukotsusei." Inuyasha said to himself before once again setting off on his way. Myoga was lying on his prayer beads and from the looks of it he was unconscious. Thus the hanyou ignored the small flea for awhile and continued in the direction Myoga had previously instructed him to go.

----------------------

It took Ranma a little while to regain consciousness, and when she did she almost regretted doing so. Her brain was hurting, but the overall pain she had felt before was gone. She also felt different. Ranma shook her head and was surprised by how heavy her hair felt, noticing it was significantly longer. It was also now silver in color, as the metallic bangs hanging in her eyes informed her. She looked down at her fingernails and was surprised to see that they seemed a bit harder, and also appeared to be significantly retracted into her fingers. Ranma flexed her fingers and marveled as the nails extended to a much longer length, giving her the impression of claws. She also noticed her ears felt different. They had relocated themselves for one thing, as Ranma felt the new additions to the top of her head.

"What the hell happened to me?" Ranma muttered out loud, suddenly remembering what happened within the explosion.

"The souls...That must be what did it. Every time that soul went through me, my body felt different. Now that I think about it I kinda look like that other guy. The ears, the hair... I must have absorbed part of his being." Ranma said as she got up. Her head was pounding, and she was having trouble remembering much of anything. At least the pain was gone.

"Man, Akane's going to be pissed. Maybe I should go see Kikyo before I head back to the den." Ranma muttered to herself, heading off in a random direction. She stopped herself, grabbing her head in confusion.

"Wait, what? Damn. My head hurts. That bastard Rouseimaru must've...no, that's not right? That little brat Kaede probably...Damn it, that's not right either! Ryoga and Tsumemaru..." Ranma grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees, struggling to make sense of the random memories that swam through her head haphazardly.

"I can't remember...which one is right? Who am I? Inuneranyashakoyokaima? No, that can't be right." Ranma mumbled, leaning against a nearby tree to hopefully collect her thoughts. She looked down at her breasts in curiosity for a moment and something clicked. There was at least one thing she was sure of, despite the jumble of memories. She was supposed to be male.

"I'm definitely supposed to be a guy...but why am I a girl? Hmm, something about water temperature...I think." She muttered to herself, turning her head a bit as she heard the sound of running water. It was coming from nearby by the sound of it, and she figured she might as well test out the water temperature theory.

----------------------

Inuyasha stared up in mild surprise at the rather impressive form of a demonic dragon. It was truly massive in size, being significantly larger than the mountain around it to the point that it appeared to be halfway encased in it. Ryukotsusei's body appeared no different than the rocks around it, with a length of white mane traveling all the way across his back. The only thing that truly set this demon apart from regular dragons was the unusual mask that seemed to be imbedded in its forehead. How it got there was beyond him. Inuyasha looked upon the great demon a little longer, idly wondering whether the demon's fangs or his body were larger. It was around that time he drew his attention to the rather large claw imbedded near Ryukotsusei's heart. It was around then that he noticed a shadow that was out of place near the top of the claw. The shadow shifted and suddenly came into the light, revealing it to be a figure draped in a baboon pelt.

"Naraku, what are you doing here?" Inuyasha shouted, glaring at his hated enemy. The man in the baboon pelt gave no reply; instead he only crouched down and applied his hand to the claw he stood on, causing it to melt away.

"Ah! That claw seals his powers!" Myoga announced with obvious fear in his voice, not liking where this was going. The claw continued to melt and evaporate into nothing more than a purple mist, soon completely vanishing as the wound left glowed with a bright red light. The sound of Ryukotsusei's heart beginning to beat again was easily audible despite how far away Inuyasha was standing. The sky darkened and lightning flashed as the massive draconic demon opened its long unseeing eyes, gazing down at Inuyasha.

"Ryukotsusei!" Naraku announced from his new position, standing on a cliff side. "The one you see before you is the son of the demon that sealed you away. He has come to kill you." He said, just as a loud rumbling sent tremors across the valley. Ryukotsusei broke free from his rocky prison, freeing his body to allow for maximum mobility while never taking either set of eyes off Inuyasha.

"This is terrible! We have to escape!" Myoga shouted fearfully, hoping to convince Inuyasha to run for his very life. Unfortunately for the flea the hanyou in question wasn't having any of it. In fact, the only change to Inuyasha was a smirk that now adorned his face.

"Heh, yeah right Myoga. I'd much rather face him head on then slay him in his sleep like a coward." Inuyasha said, smirk still on his face as he pulled his father's blade from its scabbard and transformed it in the process. Its weight was still a little more than Inuyasha could handle, yet strangely it seemed lighter than it once was. Quite a bit lighter, as he was actually able to keep the blade from touching the dirt while holding it with both hands.

'I guess just challenging this guy makes me closer in power to my father.' Inuyasha assumed.

"Do you believe you can slay me? Interesting. This shall prove amusing." Ryukotsusei said in his deep, echoing voice. It briefly sent a chill down Inuyasha's spine, but he chose to ignore it.

"Amusing?" Inuyasha repeated, sounding slightly insulted as the giant dragon lunged forward, jaws open wide. With a brief bout of effort Inuyasha was airborne, as were a couple hundred chunks of stone as Ryukotsusei carved out a chunk of the cliff with his impact. Inuyasha landed on one of the stones and hopped off of it, jumping from stone to stone before making it on Ryukotsusei's back and running across it.

'His skin feels as hard as steel.' Inuyasha thought to himself, running barefoot across the demon's back as he made his way towards his head. Ryukotsusei lunged at him again, intending to knock the annoying half-breed off his back as Inuyasha leapt and twisted around the dragon's head. With a quick grunt he slashed, intending to slash the demon's lower jaw off but instead only managing to cut off a few hairs from near his mouth. A few hairs almost as long as Inuyasha's body, that is. Inuyasha wasn't going to chance getting swatted while being so close, and instead leapt back and landed on the side of a rock formation and began to run across it.

"You dare cut my whiskers? Your insolence has earned my ire." Ryukotsusei announced as he opened his jaws, revealing a glowing blue light as electric energy danced across his teeth and tongue. A ball of energy suddenly gathered within his gullet and just as quickly evacuated it at an impressive pace, flying straight at Inuyasha. Tensing his legs and leaping once again, Inuyasha got clear of ground zero as the energy blast bored a hole straight through the cliff side he was standing on and eradicated the demon puppet in the guise of Naraku standing on the other side.

"He was aiming for Naraku?" Inuyasha muttered to himself, bringing his attention back to the fight at hand as Ryukotsusei roared.

"Come at me, little man. I hope you can provide me with some entertainment." Ryukotsusei once again bellowed, causing Inuyasha to scoff as he leapt into the air.

"I'm the one that's going to be entertained!" He shouted, setting his sights on the scar left by his father's claw and bringing the Tetsusaiga around to slice it. With a heavy impact he struck, sparks flying from the contact as Inuyasha was surprised by the amount of recoil he was receiving, so much so that he was hurled away from the demon to land roughly on his back.

"Damn. You're not making this easy." Inuyasha muttered, getting to his feet as Ryukotsusei laughed.

"See? It's useless. My body is stronger than steel!" He said, his mouth glowing again in preparation for another attack. The blast did not take long to come as Inuyasha's vision was soon filled with bright blue light.

"Steel eh? Then it's a good thing I've got the Steel cleaving fang1!" Inuyasha shot back, leaping past the blast that erupted behind him and struck with Tetsusaiga again. Once again the blade bounce off, causing Inuyasha to be hurled towards yet another rock formation.

"Fool! You've already tried that!" Ryukotsusei said as he blasted once again. Inuyasha landed for half a second before he leapt again, heading for Ryukotsusei's body.

"Yeah? Well I haven't tried this! Kachuu Tenshin, Amaguriken!!" Inuyasha screamed, moments afterward wondering why. It didn't matter though as he held the Tetsusaiga towards Ryukotsusei tip first with both hands around the hilt and went into blurring motion. The sound of Tetsusaiga impacting Ryukotsusei's metal like skin was barely out down by the sound of the wind being repeatedly sliced by the fast blows. After nearly 157 consecutive stabs to the same area Inuyasha finally broke the skin, plunging his blade deep into Ryukotsusei's body.

'How in the hell did I just do that? Or rather, when did I learn to do that?' He briefly thought, considering the move he just performed as Ryukotsusei bellowed in pain and hurled Inuyasha from his body, charging yet another blast as the hanyou barely had time to blink before having to dodge the blast.

"Damn it, after all that he's still got enough power to fight?" Inuyasha muttered in annoyance, hearing Myoga crying out next to his ear.

"Don't you understand, Master Inuyasha? This is Futile! It took every ounce of your father's strength just to seal this beast, and the wound he received in the battle is what eventually killed him!" The diminutive flea announced, causing Inuyasha to gasp slightly at that revelation.

"So, he's dead is he? And you are his foolish son? Do you seriously intend to avenge him with your pathetic little sword?" Ryukotsusei asked, humor clear in his voice as Inuyasha just growled.

"It didn't look so pathetic when I impaled your scaly ass with it! And besides, I don't even remember my father, why the hell would I try to avenge him?" Inuyasha shot back, angry at what Ryukotsusei was assuming.

"What?! How dare you say such things about your father! You've been saved countless times by the very sword he left you!" The flea shouted, tears entering his eyes.

"Get out of my face!" Inuyasha yelled angrily.

"Traitorous son! I want nothing more to do with you." Myoga muttered with tears flowing, leaping from Inuyasha's shoulder and falling into the ravine below. Inuyasha just scoffed, looking away from him.

"Ha, I know you just want to run aw...aargh!!" Inuyasha shouted, getting blind sighted from behind by Ryukotsusei's tail. He was hurled through a nearby cliff side, falling what seemed like a great distance while surrounded by chunks of rock and still engulfed in pain. His hand relaxed for a moment, but that's all it needed for him to lose hold of his sword.

"Ah! Tetsusaiga!" He uttered in horror, knowing that without his blade he would transform into a demon. The Tetsusaiga impaled itself in the ground and changed back into a rusty Katana, followed shortly by Inuyasha impacting the floor along with multiple bolder sized chunks of rock. At some point Ryukotsusei had gotten on the opposite side of the cliff Inuyasha had been pushed through, now looming over him and his sword.

"Tetsusaiga..." He muttered weakly, reaching for the blade as he heard the sound of energy collecting in Ryukotsusei's mouth. For a moment Inuyasha thought the dragon overhead was going to blast his sword into oblivion. That is, of course, until he saw the rapidly approaching energy ball closing in on his position.

"D...Damn it." He managed to mutter, just before his world turned into blinding light and his body fell into indescribable pain.

----------------------------

Ranma turned his head to the side almost violently, looking at the mountain range in the distance. The Saotome boy had figured out hot water returned him to male form awhile ago, and was now sitting in a tree and trying to collect his thoughts. However, something drew his attention towards the mountains as he saw energy begin to gather around it, an ominous feeling rising in his chest as he noticed it.

"Something isn't right." He muttered and then set off, heading towards the mountains as quickly as he could.

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To Be Continued

(Author's Notes)

It's been a while since I updated this, and I know how many people were looking forward to it. Thus I made it exceptionally long. I hope you enjoyed it.

1. Tetsusaiga translates to Steel Cleaving Fang, just to let those of you know that were unfamiliar with the comment Inuyasha made.

Ryo-Wolf


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